Unclaimed Property Blog

Indiana has over $325 million in unclaimed property. The state is currently looking to find homes for these wayward dollars.

Two Indiana papers will publish a list of names March 22nd and 29th. The list includes all unclaimed assets that were turned over to the state in 2005.

You may be on the list if you have forgotten or lost investment earnings, insurance proceeds or benefits, wages, dormant bank accounts, unclaimed utility deposits, stocks, or safe-deposit boxes. The list does not include real estate or physical property, except for contents of safe-deposit boxes.

It is almost like Christmas again for some residents. Every year the announcement of unclaimed cash and unclaimed property is distributed. You could be on the list.

The Pennsylvania Treasury Department advertises the names and last known address of those individuals and businesses owed unclaimed funds.

Since January 2005, more than $107 million in unclaimed property was returned. The average claim is about $1,300. In 1999 the state had the largest payout which was $1.4 million.

The money comes from financial assets such as bank accounts, uncashed checks, certificates of deposit, insurance benefits, stocks, unused gift certificates, and property abandoned in safe-deposit boxes. The law on the safe-deposit box is if left untouched for five years is declared unclaimed property.

The “safe” in safe deposit box may not be as safe as you think. Do you know the rules on these boxes?

You have a safe deposit box with a bank. This has the appearance of being safe. However, what happens when you have not been to the box in years? What about if you were to die unexpectedly? Are your possessions really protected?

So how can you protect yourself and your possessions if you have a safe deposit box? Consider taking the following actions:

The three major consumer credit reporting agencies have designed a new credit scoring system.

Equifax, Experian and TransUnion announced that the new credit scoring system called “VantageScore” was a direct result of market demand for a more consistent and objective approach to credit scoring. VantageScore is aimed at simplifying the loan process for both lenders and borrowers.

Until this agreement the agencies used their own proprietary formulas to create their own scores. This complicated scoring as each lender dealing with a consumer’s application for a credit card or a mortgage might have to reconcile three widely different scores.

Florida is currently promoting giving away $1 billion. Is this for real?

Are you one that seeks lost treasure? Ever comb the beaches for lost money? In Florida there are people looking for and finding lost treasure.

Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher, who oversees the Department of Financial Services’ Bureau of Unclaimed Property department, has returned nearly $300 million, since 2003, in cash and property to current or former Floridians.

The bureau is currently holding accounts valued at more than $1 billion, and the owners or heirs can claim it for free by logging on to www.fltreasurehunt.org or by calling 1-88-VALUABLE (1-888-258-2253.)

New York has money to give it’s residents. Read on to find out how much and where the money is and even how you can claim yours.

This fiscal year New York is expected to recover about $150 million in unclaimed property, state Comptroller Alan Hevesi said recently. Unclaimed funds currently total $7.2 billion.

What is this unclaimed property? It is funds which have not been claimed or are considered abandoned. The sources include old bank accounts, telephone or utility deposits, uncashed checks, insurance benefits and policies and wages. These assets are sent to the comptroller’s office, which then searches for the rightful owner.

Here is a little tidbit showing how assets can be hidden from the rightful owner.

The bad news is that you lose properties in a foreclosure. Can it get worse? Yes, and it does. The proceeds from the sale after all the liens have been satisfied, are not returned to the original owner of the property. Unfortunately for New Jersey residents, that’s happening far too often. Other states may also be doing this, but have not come forward with the data.

New Jersey maintains the unclaimed money in a trust fund that contained $272.8 million last fall.

With today’s economy, people struggle for their money. Then you read about a state with unclaimed money and unclaimed property wanting to give it back. Colorado just announced that it found $40 million this year

It is true an additional $40 million in lost and forgotten property is waiting to be claimed through the Great Colorado Payback program. This was announced by Colorado State Treasurer Mark Hillman.

Nearly 50,000 people now have assets with the state. The largest amounts of unclaimed money for this year range from $140,000 to more than $289,000. That would make a money search profitable.

The state may be small in size, but it is large in their amount of money to give away.

Vermont has money to give away. How much? $37 million. The 37 million is available through the Unclaimed Property Division of the state Treasurer’s Office.

At a recent Burlington exposition, state Treasurer Jeb Spaulding helped Vermonters check a database to see if they were owed money. Other methods of getting the word out included radio commercials, newspaper inserts, the Champlain Valley Fair annually and the Yankee Sportsman Classic, in direct mailings and passed along in lists of names to legislators and town clerks. It was the hope of the Unclaimed Property Division to create a buzz and return money.

Do you know how you scored on your credit score? Probably. Do you know what you did to get this score? If not, here are some areas that are used to determine your credit score. Hopefully with this data you can begin to get extra credit in some areas. Here are the 5 basic things that are reviewed which will give you your overall score for credit worthiness.